62 HUMBOLDT 5 S CUBA. 



splendid buildings, where there had been a great out- 

 lay of capital on a grand scale, you find the roofs 

 tumbling in, the places deserted, nobody in them, 

 grass growing in the rooms, and perhaps rats and 

 snakes in those very rooms, and a deserted, melan- 

 choly appearance that certainly goes to one's heart 

 to view. 



" Chairman, — Is that applicable only to one part, 

 or is it the general character ? 



" Copt. Hamilton. — It is the general character. 



" Mr. Bright — That is not the case in Jamaica, 

 but in those particular locations ? 



" Copt Hamilton. — E"o ; the general character of 

 Jamaica is, that it gives you the impression of a 

 place going to decay. Speaking of the population 

 of Jamaica, I do not refer to the capitalist planters 

 of old times, but of the present population of Jamaica, 

 and their locations and cultivations. 



" Mr. Bright. — Do you think the term 6 desert ' 

 was quite applicable to the state of things there ? 



" Copt. Hamilton. — I should say peculiarly ap- 

 plicable, without any exaggeration." 1 



i , i 



To this sad picture we will add but one other ex- 

 tract, the crowning testimony of the present desolate 



1 Report on the Slave Trade, printed by order of the House of 

 Commons, 1853 — page 13. 



